“If you have 10,000 people at a concert and 8,000 of them are holding a phone, there’s something deeply disconnected”: Tobias Forge on why Ghost’s 2025 tour will ban phones
Tobias Forge has shared why Ghost’s 2025 world tour will be “a phone-free experience”. Speaking to Audacy, he cites a dynamic of disconnection.
“If you have 10,000 people at a concert and 8,000 of them are holding a phone, there’s something deeply disconnected,” Forge says, going on to share that he first ran the idea by his daughter.
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“It’s an experiment. And to be perfectly honest, my 16-year-old daughter was very, very skeptical of this idea. And then she was, like, ‘No one’s gonna buy a ticket.’ And I was, like, ‘I don’t know. I have no idea what people [will do].’”
Upon entering the venue, attendees will be required to seal their phones in Yondr pouches, purpose-built phone locking phone pouches designed to unlock when a concert or experience is over.
Should they need to use their phone, attendees can leave the main showroom and unseal the pouch in the lobby and other designated areas. Jack White implemented the same rule on the tour for his 2018 album, Boarding House Reach.
“We think you’ll enjoy looking up from your gadgets for a little while and experience music and our shared love of it in person,” read a statement White released to NME.
Forge’s decision to ban phones at gigs is not an indictment of social media as a whole. He is quick to acknowledge that the social media platform, MySpace, was essential to the success of Ghost in their earlier years.
“I’m not saying that all social media is bad,” Forge says. “I’m just saying that when it comes to the actual live show, my calling, my reason for being there is the connection between myself and everybody that I brought with me that are working in tandem to give you an experience, that experience is completely de-cocked if everybody’s just filming. Am I wrong? Am I right? I don’t know. That’s how I, and we, felt.”
Forge also considers the fact that filming gigs is a way to generate free press for the tour:
“The whole thing in the business is, basically, ‘Yeah, we want people to film because we want people to see the show, and that will sell more tickets.’ Fine. I understand that there’s a promotional tool with social media,” Forge says.
Arguably, if you are able to film in a way that doesn’t distract people around you (by making sure your flash is off, for example), it can be a lovely way to be able to revisit cherished memories. But it’s also worth considering that spending a large chunk of your time at a gig filming on your phone could be taking away from the experience itself, and you may end up missing out on actually living it.
The Ghost Skeletour world tour begins April 15 at the AO Arena in Manchester. It then runs through September with dates in Europe and North America.
For tickets and info, head to Ghost’s official website.
The post “If you have 10,000 people at a concert and 8,000 of them are holding a phone, there’s something deeply disconnected”: Tobias Forge on why Ghost’s 2025 tour will ban phones appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
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